This paper explores institutional strengthening for the role of mass media in disaster risk reduction, in Japan and in Indonesia. Although this research is a comparative study in nature, the ultimate goal of this exploration is to identify policy recommendations for parties concerns in disaster risk reduction in Indonesia. Soft systems methodology-based action research (Checkland and Scholes 1990; Uchiyama 2009; Hardjosoekarto 2012, 2013) is conducted in Indonesia and in Japan. This research is a business change practice/empirical research practice in the words of Cronholm and Goldkuhl (2003). In this paper, how the institutional strengthening for the role of mass media in disaster risk reduction that could be achieved through strengthening three tier institutional frameworks (Nee 2003) at macro, meso and micro levels, respectively, is elaborated. This study provides an illustration of a comparative study-like SSM-based action research in action, in which debating on Indonesian case is conducted by using relevant purposeful activity systems that are selected and conceptual models that are developed from Japan’s experiences. © 2013, Springer Science+Business Media New York.